{"id":29749,"date":"2026-03-24T12:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T10:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=29749"},"modified":"2026-03-24T12:40:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T10:40:39","slug":"kenya-fuel-retailers-running-short-of-supplies-due-to-middle-east-war","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/kenya-fuel-retailers-running-short-of-supplies-due-to-middle-east-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya fuel retailers running short of supplies due to Middle East war"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Head of Kenya\u2019s independent fuel retailers told <\/span>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0that hundreds of dealers were running short due to the Iran war, saying about 20% \u200bof the outlets were affected after the regulator froze pump prices \u200cdespite rising global oil costs.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dealers are likely to start hoarding petroleum products in anticipation of consumer fuel price hikes next month, said Martin Chomba, \u00a0Chairperson) of the Petroleum Outlets Association of \u200bKenya (POAK).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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African countries are among the most exposed to both supply disruptions and higher \u200bprices after the conflict all but halted shipments of about one-fifth \u2060of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of \u200bHormuz.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kenya obtains all its fuel supplies from the Middle East through government-to-government deals with \u200bGulf crude producers and refiners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“We have constrained supply,” said Chomba, whose association represents independent retailers, transporters and others, serving 68% of the national market.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“So far about 20% of some 3 100 \u200bretailers are affected, in two weeks it will be a total crisis with no \u200bfuel in most outlets if the tension in the Middle East continues.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On March 14 the \u200cstate-run \u2060sector regulator, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), left pump prices for petroleum products unchanged for the next 30 days despite the spike in international crude oil prices.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“Real shock is on the way,” Chomba said, referring to the possibility of \u200bhoarding. He added \u200bthat POAK had \u2060been pressing authorities in Nairobi to end the government-to-government deals and allow fuel marketers to purchase products from private suppliers \u200bas a contingency measure.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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EPRA Director General Daniel Kiptoo Bargoria told \u200bReuters that \u2060Kenya had “sufficient stocks”, adding that the regulator would issue a statement later on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A ruling party lawmaker, Nelson Koech, said on Monday that “speculation, panic buying, and hoarding, \u2060particularly hoarding \u200bby oil marketers’ in anticipation of a price \u200bjump” had seen demand jump over the past two weeks, affecting access to supplies.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20722,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-29749","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Hundreds of fuel dealers running short due to the Iran war","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29750,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29749\/revisions\/29750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}